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| Tuesday, April 23, 2002 | ||
World Jews call on Europe to fight anti-SemitismBRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) - World Jewish leaders blamed Europe's political and intellectual elites Tuesday for indirectly fueling anti-Semitic violence that has swept Western Europe in recent weeks. The World Jewish Congress (WJC), holding an emergency executive meeting two days after the stunning electoral success of the far-right in France, urged European governments to kill off anti-Semitism before it spread. "To the political and intellectual leaders we send the following message -- we will never forget that once again you are standing by and doing nothing while synagogues burn in your cities," the Congress said in a statement. It said media prejudice and pro-Palestinian statements by many politicians and prominent intellectuals had encouraged extremists in Europe to attack Jews and their property. "The WJC notes with concern that European intellectual and political elites are creating an ambience in which anti-Semitism is considered legitimate," it said. According to figures from the Congress, there have been 300 anti-Jewish attacks in the last three weeks, ranging from graffiti daubed on Jewish property to fire-bombings of synagogues and physical assaults on rabbis. The WJC said in would set up a European Jewish Information Center to monitor anti-Jewish attacks, suggest ways to prevent them and respond to media reports on the Middle East which it deems biased against Israel. "We find Europe pretty sick. European Jewry is confronted with the strongest wave of anti-Semitic attacks since the end of World War Two," Serge Cwajgenbaum, secretary-general of the Paris-based European Jewish Congress, told Reuters. ALARMED BY LE PEN Cwajgenbaum said far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen's surprise win through to the second round of the French presidential election showed that nationalism and anti-Semitism were on the rise in Western Europe. "It reflects the malady which exists in different countries in Europe ... . We could never have expected even in our worst nightmares that Le Pen would succeed so much," he said. The union of Jewish communities in France appealed Tuesday to Jewish voters to turn out en masse to vote against Le Pen, calling him a dangerous anti-Semite. Israel's most powerful religious party, Shas, has urged French Jews to leave for Israel after Le Pen's strong performance. Berlin police have given informal advice to Jewish people to avoid wearing skullcaps after recent anti-Semitic attacks in the German capital, a police spokesman said Tuesday. Most significant Jewish sites in Berlin are guarded by armed police. Barricades surround buildings such as the historic New Synagogue. The violence against Jews and Jewish property appears to be linked to protests against Israel's military incursions into Palestinian areas of the West Bank, although investigators have so far said it is the work of delinquents rather than an orchestrated campaign. The World Jewish Congress reiterated its controversial view that anybody who is against Israel must automatically be anti-Semitic. "It sees in the vilification and demonization of the Jewish state, anti-Semitism, plain and simple," the leaders said, voicing "unconditional solidarity" with Israel. Five European governments appealed last week for joint EU action to combat racism after a spate of attacks on Jewish targets from Marseille to Kiev, but the EU and United Nations have also called on Israel to end its assault on the Palestinian territories.
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